By: Jai Lanka
Is there a more effective method of critiquing something indirectly than through satire? Nobody wants to sit down and read an essay telling us about the perils of modern society. To truly captivate an audience, you need to turn it into a story and there’s one thing you’re always told when telling a story: to not tell it all. Rather you should show the story, which satire excels at. Porpentine has mastered the art of utilizing satire to illustrate the absurd aspects of modern society, refraining from direct exposition in favor of nuanced commentary.
ULTRA BUSINESS TYCOON III is the most obvious example of this. Just the name itself tells us how unserious the game we’re about to play is. We navigate through the game’s exaggerated scenarios, encountering characters and situations that parody real-life corporate culture. One of the game’s strengths lies in its ability to juxtapose the player’s actions with the game’s underlying commentary on societal values. Whether it’s exploiting labor, engaging in unethical business practices, or pursuing relentless profit at any cost, ULTRA BUSINESS TYCOON III presents players with choices that highlight the moral ambiguities inherent in corporate culture. The game’s satire also extends beyond mere mockery however, inviting players to reflect on their own complicity in perpetuating these systems through some of the endings in which you can lose because you realize you were too unethical or that the material wealth wasn’t worth it.
Skulljford has more subtle satire that delivers a similar message as ULTRA BUSINESS TYCOON III. When playing there really was no meaning to most of the actions that I was doing, but that made them more meaningful because I gave them meaning. I have no idea what shoveling the skulls did but simply seeing the number go up made me want to do it more and more. Eventually I realized that the more skulls I shoveled the more often I would receive money from someone visiting the village. With this money I could buy things from the shop and the train ticket. With all those items I could get somewhere and do something? I found myself constantly in this cycle of accumulation and investment reflecting in the insatiable pursuit of wealth and progress often critiqued in satirical works. The game’s ambiguity underscores the absurdity of our relentless pursuit of goals without clear understanding or reflection on their true significance.
I felt like I was going on a mini journey on the hedonic treadmill with this game. First, I had a goal to buy a train ticket. I thought it would lead me somewhere that would be good. It then took me nowhere because I got it too early in the game and I was disappointed. Then I decided to explore the outskirts. At the outskirts I climbed to the peak of the mountain and decided to jump down. I thought surely this would lead me somewhere interesting, but I simply died and respawned in the village. I then did more exploration of the outskirts thinking “surely the end goal has to be around here”. And once again I thought that I had found the answer to the purpose of my existence in this game when I found a brick wall at the end of the ravine that was noted as “strangely humanlike”. I had to go back and forth from the village, sleeping and clawing away one brick at a time until finally I broke through the wall. Behind the wall was a stream of light and a path filled with interesting just for it to all lead up to… a vat of acid that I fell in, died, and respawned in the village. Disappointed again. Then I was issued a letter that I was being transferred to another town and in this town, I had the job of censoring books. It had pretty much nothing to do with everything I did beforehand, and it felt like all the “progress” I had made was for nothing. Then the game just ends. My only thought was “what was the point”. And I’m sure there are people that think the same at the end of their lives when they lived their whole lives on the hedonic treadmill. I think the game is trying to get at the fact that it’s important to recognize that long-term happiness isn’t solely dependent on external factors such as wealth, success, or material possessions. Instead, cultivating sustainable happiness involves prioritizing experiences over possessions, practicing gratitude, fostering meaningful connections with others. This is what will allow us to experience a deeper sense of fulfillment and contentment in life. I found myself skimming through the dialogue because I just wanted to get to my goal at the time, but had I really read everything the game was saying, perhaps I would have felt more fulfilled after playing.
Although porpentine’s use of satire is a staple throughout her games, my personal favorite among the ones we played utilized it the least. Unlike the other games, Howling Dogs feels very real. It still has that social commentary element to it, but the tone is much more serious. One of the things I found most interesting about it is the option for self-care. You can take a shower each day it’s available. You can throw away your trash. In the end though it feels like it doesn’t matter. I played through the game twice. The first time I did as much self-care as possible and the second time, I did the least amount possible. Both times I got the same ending so I’m not sure if it’s even something that affects the outcome. Maybe that is the message itself. It doesn’t matter how well you take care of yourself in reality. Maybe that’s why the game doesn’t even give you the option of self-care as you progress as well. If you ultimately always turn to escapism, your actual situation will deteriorate. At the same time what other option does our protagonist have in the game? Perhaps the difference is that in our reality we do have other options. We should engage in means of entertainment that are grounded in reality. I’ve done my fair share of doom-scrolling on social media. Sometimes it’s nice to just turn your brain off for a bit and hook yourself into something else. It’s the easiest way to keep the boredom away but do it too often and you’ll end up in your 30’s in your mom’s basement, no job, no education just hooked into every reality that is not real forever.
Intermittent Mechanism 